Culture, Books : Nonfiction, The day of the dead

A protest in support of the missing teacher- training students EDGARD GARRIDO/ REUTERS

This investigation into the fate of 43 students who were ‘disappeared’ reveals horrifying levels of violence and state collusion

A nabel Hernández’s book (first published in Spanish in 2016) rates as one of the most difficult I have encountered. Difficult to believe, to take in the implications, to process the appalling violence and, sadly, in parts, simply to read.

On the surface, it is an investigation into another Mexican atrocity. But this is as important a book about the state of a nation as any you will find. If Hernández is right – and her evidence is formidable – for four years the government of president Enrique Peña Nieto openly, indeed aggressively, lied about the fate of 43 students who disappeared one evening in the town of Iguala. It has not just lied, but actively covered up a crime, using a level of brutality and torture that rivals any drug cartel. And while the newly elected...